Vautier Quickest on Friday in Abu Dhabi

Photo: Asian Le Mans Series

Tristan Vautier led the way in the opening day of official track action at Yas Marina Circuit for the pair of season-ending 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi Asian Le Mans Series rounds.

The Frenchman in the No. 30 RD Limited Oreca 07 Gibson reeled off a chart-topping 1:40.800 in Friday’s second session to go quickest on the day.

Vautier was 0.449 seconds quicker than the No. 25 Algarve Pro Racing entry of Malthe Jakobsen, who placed second in the night-time session, and was more than a half-second clear of teammate James Allen, who topped the time charts in Free Practice 1.

The No. 24 Nielsen Racing Oreca of Nicky Catsburg was third quickest in the session, with Mathias Beche and Olivier Pla completing the top-five for Proton Competition and AF Corse, respectively, in the LMP2 ranks.

LMP3 was led by the No. 26 Bretton Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan of Griffin Peebles, thanks to a 1:48.446 lap time.

The No. 9 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Fabian Schiller, meanwhile, had set the quickest time in the GT class, although the lap was disallowed, presumably for a track limits violation.

It gave the No. 12 Car Collection Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R of Nico Menzel the top time in class, a 1:53.318 lap time, ahead of the No. 23 Absolute Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Chris van der Drift.

There was a single red flag that came out roughly halfway through the 90-minute session, which resumed quickly after the stoppage.

Qualifying gets underway Saturday at 10:50 a.m. local time (1:50 a.m. ET).

RESULTS: Free Practice 2